Methods and systems for placeshifting data with interference mitigation

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for placeshifting data. An exemplary method of transmitting data from a source device to a destination device over a first communications channel involves identifying interference with transmission of the data from the source device to the destination device and initiating operation of a third device on a second communications channel after identifying the interference, wherein the operation of the third device is configured to mitigate the interference with the data transmission over the first communications channel.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following description generally relates to mitigating interferencewhen transmitting data between different devices.

BACKGROUND

Performance advancements in wireless communications technology haveresulted in a greater number of applications that leverage wirelesscommunications for transmitting data, for example, in lieu of physicalcables and/or wires. Due to the proliferation of wireless devices and/orwireless networks, wireless devices are often in relatively closeproximity with other wireless devices that may be concurrentlytransmitting data on different wireless networks, which, in turn, mayinterfere with the ability of a wireless device to receive data.Accordingly, it is now desirable to create systems and methods formitigating potential interference to provide a more satisfactory userexperience. Other desirable features and characteristics may also becomeapparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appendedclaims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and thisbackground section.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to various exemplary embodiments, systems, devices and methodsare provided for transmitting data from a source device to a destinationdevice. One exemplary method involves identifying interference withtransmission of data from the source device to the destination deviceover a first communications channel and initiating operation of a thirddevice on a second communications channel after identifying theinterference. The second communications channel is different from thefirst communications channel, and the operation of the third device isconfigured to mitigate the interference.

In other embodiments, a media system is provided. The media systemincludes a destination device to receive first data from a source devicevia a first communications channel and an auxiliary devicecommunicatively coupled to at least one of the destination device or thesource device to transmit second data over a second communicationschannel. The second data is configured to reduce interference with thedestination device receiving the first data from the source device.

In another embodiment, a method involves transmitting data from a sourcedevice to a destination device via a first wireless communicationschannel, identifying interference with the transmitting of the databased at least in part on one or more performance metrics associatedwith the transmitting of the data, detecting communications on a secondwireless communications channel after identifying the interference, andinitiating operation of a third device on the second wirelesscommunications channel after detecting the communications. The secondwireless communications channel is different from the first wirelesscommunications channel, and the third device is communicatively coupledto at least one of the source device and the destination device. Theoperation of the third device on the second wireless communicationschannel is configured to decrease a utilization ratio associated withthe communications on the second wireless communications channel.

Various embodiments, aspects and other features are described in moredetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Exemplary embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote likeelements, and

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a media system in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary placeshifting process suitable foruse with the media system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary interference mitigation processsuitable for use in conjunction with the placeshifting process of FIG. 2in the media system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary mitigating device identificationprocess 400 suitable for use in conjunction with the interferencemitigation process of FIG. 3 in the media system of FIG. 1 in accordancewith one or more embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of communications within themedia system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one exemplary embodiment ofthe placeshifting process of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary media device suitable for usein the media system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary client device suitable for usein the media system of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention is merely exemplaryin nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the applicationand uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to bebound by any theory presented in the preceding background or thefollowing detailed description.

Embodiments of the subject matter described herein generally relate toreducing or otherwise mitigating interference when placeshifting orotherwise transmitting data between devices. In exemplary embodiments,when interference with the data transmission from one device (e.g., the“source” device) to another device (e.g., the “destination” device) isidentified, a third device is operated in a manner that is configured toreduce or otherwise mitigate the interference with the datatransmission. In this manner, the performance of the data transmissionmay be improved by mitigating the interference, thereby improving theuser experience at the destination device for real-time placeshiftingapplications, such as, for example, streaming media content.Accordingly, for purpose of explanation but without limitation, thesubject matter may be described herein in the context of placeshiftingmedia content among devices within a media system. However, it will beappreciated that the subject matter described herein is not necessarilylimited to any particular type of content for the data beingplaceshifted. As used herein, “media content,” “media program,” orvariants thereof should be understood as referring to any audio, video,audio/visual or other programming in any streaming, file-based or otherformat.

As described in greater detail below, in exemplary embodiments, apeer-to-peer communication session is established between source anddestination devices over a wireless communications channel, which isthen utilized to wirelessly transmit the data corresponding to aparticular media program from the source device to the destinationdevice via the peer-to-peer communication session. After one of thesource or destination devices identifies that the performance of thedata transmission has been impaired, other wireless communicationschannels are monitored for potentially interfering communications. Whenpotentially interfering communications are identified on anotherwireless communications channel, other devices within the media systemthat may be capable of mitigating the interference attributable to thatwireless communications channel are identified. Thereafter, one or moreof those potential mitigating devices are operated on that wirelesscommunications channel in a manner that is intended to reduce orotherwise mitigate any interference with the data transmission betweenthe source and destination device that would otherwise be attributableto communications on that wireless communications channel. For example,in exemplary embodiments, operation of a mitigating device is configuredto reduce the amount, frequency and/or rate of communications by apotentially interfering device on that wireless communications channel.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary media system 100 configured to supportplaceshifting or otherwise transferring data, such as a media program(or media content), from a source electronic device 102 to a destinationelectronic device 104 via a first communications channel 110 whilemitigating interference with the data transmission that is attributableto another electronic device 130 communicating on a secondcommunications channel 120. For purposes of explanation, the subjectmatter is described herein in the context of the communications channels110, 120 being realized as wireless communications channels; however,the subject matter described herein is not necessarily limited towireless communications channels, and in alternative embodiments, one orboth of the communications channels 110, 120 could be realized as aphysical communications channel.

In exemplary embodiments, in addition to the source and destinationdevices 102, 104, the media system 100 also includes one or moreadditional electronic devices 106, 108, which may alternatively bereferred to herein as auxiliary electronic devices 106, 108 for purposesof explanation. The electronic devices 102, 104, 106, 108 arecommunicatively coupled to one another, either directly or indirectlyvia another of the electronic devices 102, 104, 106, 108. At least oneof the auxiliary devices 106, 108 is capable of concurrentlytransmitting data on the second communications channel 120 while sourceand destination devices 102, 104 are communicating on the firstcommunications channel 110. As described in greater detail below, anauxiliary device 106, 108 concurrently transmits data on the secondcommunications channel 120 in a manner that is configured to reduce orotherwise mitigate interference that would otherwise be attributable tothe interfering device 130 communicating on the second communicationschannel 120. It should be appreciated that FIG. 1 is a simplifiedrepresentation of the media system 100 for purposes of explanation andis not intended to limit the scope of the subject matter describedherein in any way. In this regard, practical embodiments of the mediasystem 100 may include any number of electronic devices that arecommunicatively coupled to one another to support the subject matterdescribed herein.

As illustrated, each of the electronic devices 102, 104, 106, 108 withinthe media system 100 includes at least one communications interface 103,105, 107, 109 that supports communications with at least one otherelectronic device 102, 104, 106, 108 within the media system 100. Inthis regard, the communications interface 103, 105, 107, 109 generallyrepresents the component, hardware or the like of the respectiveelectronic device 102, 104, 106, 108 that facilitates communicationswith a communications network capable of supporting transmission of dataand/or information. Depending on the embodiment and the particularelectronic device 102, 104, 106, 108 within the media system 100, thecommunications interface 103, 105, 107, 109 may include or otherwise berealized as a IEEE 802.11 wireless transceiver (e.g., “WiFi”), aBluetooth transceiver, a cellular transceiver, a wired network interfacecontroller (e.g., Ethernet), a coaxial transceiver interface, or thelike. In this regard, the auxiliary devices 106, 108 may becommunicatively coupled to at least one of the source device 102 or thedestination device 104 via a physical communications channel (e.g.,Ethernet, coaxial, or the like) and/or a wireless communicationschannel, which may be the same communications channel 110 as is used totransmit data from the source device 102 to the destination device 104.

In exemplary embodiments described herein, the communications interfaces103, 105 of the source device 102 and the destination device 104 includea wireless communications interface configured to communicate over thesame frequency band (or range), so that the source device 102 and thedestination device 104 are capable of communicating with one anotherover a first wireless communications channel 110 within the frequencyband. For example, both communications interfaces 103, 105 may becompliant with one or more of the IEEE 802.11 specifications and capableof communicating on the 2.4 GHz frequency band and/or the 5 GHzfrequency band, wherein the first wireless communications channel 110 isrealized as a discrete channel having a recognized center frequencywithin the 2.4 GHz frequency band. For example, the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 may be realized as 802.11 channel 1, which iscentered on 2.412 GHz with a channel width of 20 MHz.

In exemplary embodiments described herein, the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 that the interfering device 130 communicateson is another discrete channel within the same frequency band as thefirst wireless communications channel 110, but the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 is different from the first wirelesscommunications channel 110. In this regard, the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 may be realized as another 802.11 channelthat that overlaps at least a portion of the first wirelesscommunications channel 110. For example, if the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 is realized as 802.11 channel 1, the secondwireless communications channel 120 may be realized as one of 802.11channel 2 through 802.11 channel 5. The subject matter described hereinis not necessarily limited to the second wireless communications channel120 being within the same frequency band as the first communicationschannel 110 and/or overlapping with the second wireless communicationschannel 120. That said, the likelihood of interference with the datatransmission between devices 102, 104 is greatest when the secondwireless communications channel 120 overlaps the first communicationschannel 110, and accordingly, for purposes of explanation, the secondwireless communications channel 120 may be described herein in thecontext of being in the same frequency band as the first communicationschannel 110 and/or overlapping at least a portion of the firstcommunications channel 110.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the communications interface 107, 109 of atleast one of the auxiliary devices 106, 108 includes a wirelesscommunications interface configured to communicate over the samefrequency band (or range) as the first wireless communications channel110 such that the respective auxiliary device 106, 108 is capable ofbeing operated to mitigate potential interference on the secondcommunications channel 120 within that frequency band. For example, thecommunications interface 107 of a first auxiliary device 106 may becompliant with the IEEE 802.11b specification and capable ofcommunicating on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. As described in greaterdetail below in the context of FIGS. 2-5, after identifying potentialinterference with data transmission from the source device 102 to thedestination device 104 via the first wireless communications channel 110that is occurring on a second wireless communications channel 120,either the source device 102 or the destination device 104 initiatesoperation of the auxiliary device 106 on the second wirelesscommunications channel 120. The operation of the auxiliary device 106 onthe second wireless communications channel 120 is configured to reduceor otherwise mitigate the potential interference within the firstwireless communications channel 110 that may be caused by one or moredevices 130 communicating on the second wireless communications channel120. For example, either the source device 102 or the destination device104 may instruct the auxiliary device 106 to operate its communicationsinterface 107 to transmit data over the second wireless communicationschannel 120 at a frequency (or rate) that is configured to reduce theutilization ratio of the interfering device(s) 130 on the secondwireless communications channel 120, which, in turn, reduces thelikelihood of the interfering device(s) 130 on the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 interfering with the data transmission on thefirst wireless communications channel 110.

The electronic devices 102, 104, 106, 108 and the potential interferingdevice(s) 130 may be realized as any sort of electronic device capableof wirelessly communicating data, such as, for example, a mobiletelephone, a laptop or notebook computer, a tablet computer, a desktopcomputer, a personal digital assistant, a video game player, a portablemedia player or another media playback device, an e-reader, a wirelessrouter, a wireless access point, a smart TV, a set-top box, a televisionreceiver, a satellite receiver, or the like. As described in greaterdetail below in the context of FIG. 6, in one or more exemplaryembodiments, at least the source electronic device 102 is realized as amedia device, a set-top box, a television and/or satellite receiver, orthe like, that is capable of receiving broadcast media programs and/orother media programs from an external content source (which could alsobe one of the auxiliary devices 106, 108), and streaming, transmitting,or otherwise placeshifting data corresponding to a media program to thedestination device 104 via the first wireless communications channel110. In some embodiments, the source device 102 may employ a digitalvideo recorder (DVR) feature and/or functionality, wherein the sourcedevice 102 streams, transmits, or otherwise placeshifts, to thedestination device 104 via the first wireless communications channel110, data stored or otherwise maintained on a data storage element ofthe source device 102 that corresponds to a previously recordedbroadcast media program.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a placeshifting process 200suitable for implementation by a media system, such as media system 100,to placeshift media content from a source device to a destinationdevice. The various tasks performed in connection with the illustratedprocess 200 may be implemented using hardware, firmware, softwareexecuted by processing circuitry, or any combination thereof. Forillustrative purposes, the following description may refer to elementsmentioned above in connection with FIG. 1. In practice, portions of theplaceshifting process 200 may be performed by different elements of themedia system 100, such as, for example, the source device 102, thedestination device 104, or one or more auxiliary devices 106, 108. Itshould be appreciated that the placeshifting process 200 may include anynumber of additional or alternative tasks, the tasks need not beperformed in the illustrated order and/or the tasks may be performedconcurrently, and/or the placeshifting process 200 may be incorporatedinto a more comprehensive procedure or process having additionalfunctionality not described in detail herein. Moreover, one or more ofthe tasks shown and described in the context of FIG. 2 could be omittedfrom a practical embodiment of the placeshifting process 200 as long asthe intended overall functionality remains intact.

In exemplary embodiments, the placeshifting process 200 begins bytransmitting or otherwise communicating data from a source device to adestination device via a communications channel (task 202). In thisregard, a user of the destination device 104 or the source device 102may interact with the respective device 102, 104 (e.g., by manipulatinguser input elements of the respective device 102, 104, a remote controldevice configured to interact with the respective device 102, 104, orthe like) to indicate a desire to transmit a media program from thesource device 102 to the destination device 104. For example, a user ofthe destination device 104 may manipulate a user input element (e.g.,one or more buttons and/or keys, a touchscreen and/or touch panel, orthe like) associated with the destination device 104 to indicate adesire to stream a media program from the source device 102. Forexample, a user may manipulate a remote control or other input deviceassociated with the destination device to select, for streaming, a livebroadcast media program that is capable of being received by the sourcedevice 102 in real-time or a previously-aired broadcast media programthat is stored on the source device 102 or another remote content sourcecoupled to the source device 102.

In response to receiving indication of the media program to betransmitted, the devices 102, 104 automatically establish a peer-to-peercommunication session with one another via the first wirelesscommunications channel 110, and the source device 102 automaticallybegins transferring the data corresponding to the selected media programto the destination device 104 via the peer-to-peer communication sessionover the first wireless communications channel 110. In this regard, thedestination device 104 may be paired with the source device 102 uponinitialization of the media system 100. In one or more embodiments, uponbeing powered on or otherwise enabled, the source device 102 and/or thedestination device 104 detects or otherwise identifies the presence ofthe other device 102, 104 in its vicinity, for example, by performing adiscovery procedure or otherwise scanning the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 (or the range of frequencies of the frequencyband including the first wireless communications channel 110) for otherdevices. In response to the devices 102, 104 discovering one another,the source device 102 obtains identification information for thedestination device 104 and stores or otherwise maintains theidentification information for the destination device 104, andsimilarly, the destination device 104 may obtain identificationinformation for the source device 102 and store or otherwise maintainthe identification information for the source device 102. Theidentification information may include an address of a respective device102, 104 on the first wireless communications channel 110, a uniqueidentifier associated with the communications interface 103, 105 of therespective device 102, 104 that is used to access the wirelesscommunications channel 110 (e.g., a media access control address, or thelike), a unique identifier associated with the respective device 102,104 (e.g., a unique number assigned to the respective device 102, 104 bythe media system 100, or the like), and/or model and/or versioninginformation for the respective device 102, 104, and the like (e.g., thetype of electronic device, make and/or model of electronic device,firmware version, and the like). The devices 102, 104 may also exchangenetwork authentication information from one another, such as, forexample, secure sockets layer (SSL) keys, cryptographic keys, or thelike.

Using the stored identification information and/or authenticationinformation, the destination device 104 initiates the peer-to-peercommunications session with the source device 102 in response toreceiving selection of the media program to be placeshifted (oralternatively, the source device 102 initiates the peer-to-peercommunications session using the stored identification informationand/or authentication information for the destination device 104). Afterestablishing the peer-to-peer communications session, the source device102 automatically initiates transmission of the data corresponding tothe selected media program to the destination device 104 via thepeer-to-peer communications session over the first wirelesscommunications channel 110.

After the data transmission to the destination device has begun, theplaceshifting process 200 continues by monitoring the performance of thedata transmission and detecting or otherwise identifying when the datatransmission performance is indicative of potential interference onanother communications channel (tasks 204, 206). In this regard, thesource device 102 and/or the destination device 104 may calculate orotherwise determine the value for one or more performance metrics thatquantify the relative quality or performance of the data transmission.The source device 102 and/or the destination device 104 monitors theperformance metrics and detects or otherwise identifies when one or moreof those performance metric values is indicative of the datatransmission likely being impaired by interference, for example, by arespective performance metric value being greater than or less than athreshold value indicative of interference that should be mitigated.

During the data transmission, the source device 102 may track orotherwise monitor the number or frequency of buffer overruns, thethroughput associated with the data transmission, the number or rate ofacknowledgments received from the destination device 104, the modulationscheme or modulation rate associated with the data transmission, apacket error (or packet loss) rate associated with the datatransmission, and the like, and detect or otherwise identify that thedata transmission is impaired when one or more of those performancemetrics exceeds one or more threshold values. For example, in oneembodiment, the source device 102 may monitor the throughput of the datatransmission and detect or otherwise identify impairment when thethroughput of the data transmission falls below the data rate of thedata being transmitted by a threshold percentage for a thresholdduration of time and/or a threshold number of times. In this manner, thesource device 102 may detect or otherwise identify potentialinterference on another communications channel when the performance ofthe data transmission interferes with the ability of the media programto be streamed to the destination device 104 without delays and/orinterruptions in the presentation of the media program by thedestination device 104. For example, if the data rate of the mediaprogram is 10 megabits per second (Mbps), the source device 102 maydetect or otherwise identify potential interference when the bandwidthof the peer-to-peer communications session over the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 falls below 10 Mbps for a threshold durationof time (e.g., 2 seconds or more) and/or a threshold number of timesduring a particular window of time (e.g., 2 or more times over aconsecutive one minute interval).

Similarly, the destination device 104 may track or otherwise monitor thethroughput associated with the data transmission, the modulation schemeor modulation rate associated with the data transmission, the packeterror (or packet loss) rate associated with the data transmission, andthe like, and detect or otherwise identify that the data transmission isimpaired when one or more of those performance metrics exceeds one ormore threshold values. For example, in one embodiment, the destinationdevice 104 may monitor the packet error rate associated with the datatransmission and detect or otherwise identify impairment when the packeterror rate exceeds a threshold amount (e.g., a 10% packet error rate)and/or for a duration of time greater than a particular threshold amountof time and/or a threshold number of times during a particular window oftime. In this manner, the destination device 104 may also detect orotherwise identify potential interference on another communicationschannel when the performance of the data transmission indicatespotential interference that could impair the ability of the mediaprogram to be streamed by the destination device 104.

After determining the data transmission performance is indicative ofpotential interference on another communications channel, theplaceshifting process 200 continues by initiating an interferencemitigation process (task 208). In this manner, the placeshifting process200 attempts to reduce or otherwise mitigate the impact of potentialinterference on the performance of the data transmission. In exemplaryembodiments, the media system 100 implements or otherwise performs themitigation process 300 described in greater detail below in the contextof FIG. 3. As described in greater detail below, one or more of theauxiliary devices 106, 108 transmits data over the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 as part of the mitigation process 300 in anattempt to reduce the utilization of the second wireless communicationschannel 120 by potentially interfering devices 130, and thereby, reducethe likelihood of those interfering devices 130 impairing the datatransmission between the devices 102, 104 on the first wirelesscommunications channel 110. In some embodiments, the auxiliary device106 communicates on the second wireless communications channel 120throughout the duration of the data transmission to allow the entiretyof the data corresponding to the selected media program to be streamedto the destination device 104 with a reduced likelihood of interference.In other embodiments, the auxiliary device 106 communicates on thesecond wireless communications channel 120 only for a portion of theduration of the data transmission and then ceases transmitting data onthe second wireless communications channel 120 when the operation by theauxiliary device 106 is ineffective or no longer desired. After theentirety of the selected media program has been transmitted to thedestination device 104 or transmission of the selected media program isterminated, the placeshifting process 200 exits until transmission ofanother media program from one device 102, 104, 106, 108 to anotherdevice 102, 104, 106, 108 is reinitiated.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a mitigation process 300suitable for implementation by a media system, such as media system 100,to mitigate interference when placeshifting media content from a sourcedevice to a destination device (e.g., task 208). The various tasksperformed in connection with the illustrated process 300 may beimplemented using hardware, firmware, software executed by processingcircuitry, or any combination thereof. For illustrative purposes, thefollowing description may refer to elements mentioned above inconnection with FIG. 1. In practice, portions of the mitigation process300 may be performed by different elements of the media system 100, suchas, for example, the source device 102, the destination device 104, orone or more auxiliary devices 106, 108. It should be appreciated thatthe mitigation process 300 may include any number of additional oralternative tasks, the tasks need not be performed in the illustratedorder and/or the tasks may be performed concurrently, and/or themitigation process 300 may be incorporated into a more comprehensiveprocedure or process having additional functionality not described indetail herein. Moreover, one or more of the tasks shown and described inthe context of FIG. 3 could be omitted from a practical embodiment ofthe mitigation process 300 as long as the intended overall functionalityremains intact.

Referring to FIG. 3, and with continued reference to FIGS. 1-2, inexemplary embodiments, the mitigation process 300 is performed inresponse to detecting or otherwise identifying potential interferencewith data transmission from a source device to a destination device(e.g., task 208). The mitigation process 300 begins by detecting orotherwise identifying the presence of a potentially interfering deviceon a communications channel other than the communications channelutilized for the data transmission (task 302). In exemplary embodiments,in response to detecting potential interference that impairs the datatransmission, the destination device 104 scans, monitors, or otherwiselistens to one or more different wireless communications channels otherthan the wireless communications channel 110 being used for the datatransmission for potentially interfering communications from one or moreinterfering device(s) 130. For example, when the wireless communicationschannel 110 is realized as an 802.11b channel (e.g., channel 1), thedestination device 104 may automatically operate its communicationsinterface 105 to scan the other 802.11b channels for communications onthose channels by potentially interfering devices in the vicinity of thedestination device 104. The destination device 104 may periodicallyand/or intermittently listen to the other wireless communicationschannels while receiving the data from the source device 102, forexample, by alternating between monitoring or listening to the wirelesscommunications channel 110 for new media content data and monitoring orlistening to another wireless communications channel for othercommunications.

In some embodiments where the source device 102 detects the impaireddata transmission performance, the source device 102 signals, commands,or otherwise instructs the destination device 104 (e.g., via the firstwireless communications channel 110) to monitor the other wirelesscommunications channels. In alternative embodiments, the source device102 and/or the destination device 104 may identify an auxiliary device106, 108 that is in the vicinity of the destination device 104 andcommand, signal, or otherwise instruct the identified auxiliary device106, 108 to scan, monitor, or otherwise listen to the different wirelesscommunications channels other than the wireless communications channel110. For example, upon initialization of the media system 100, locationinformation for the respective devices 102, 104, 106, 108 may be storedor otherwise maintained by one or more of the other devices 102, 104,106, 108 in the media system 100 as part of pairing or otherwiseestablishing the association among devices 102, 104, 106, 108. In someembodiments, the destination device 104 maintains operation of itscommunications interface 105 on the wireless communications channel 110and dedicates resources to receiving new media content data rather thanmonitoring or listening to other wireless communications channels forinterference.

After detecting or otherwise identifying a potential interfering deviceon another communications channel, the mitigation process 300 continuesby determining whether the potentially interfering device should bemitigated based on one or more interference metrics associated with thepotentially interfering device (task 304). In exemplary embodiments, thedevice 104, 106, 108 in the media system 100 that detects communicationson another communications channel calculates or otherwise determines oneor more interference metrics associated with the detected communicationsand compares the interference metric(s) with one or more correspondingthreshold value(s) to ensure that attempting to mitigate the potentialinterference is worthwhile. In this regard, in some embodiments, themitigation process 300 may not attempt to mitigate the potentiallyinterfering device when the interference metric(s) associated with thepotentially interfering device indicate that the mitigation is unlikelyto improve performance of the data transmission, for example, if thesignal strength of the detected communications is too low, the frequencyor rate of the detected communications is too low, etc. In other words,the mitigation process 300 may attempt to mitigate the potentiallyinterfering device only when the interference metric(s) associated withthe detected communications associated with that potentially interferingdevice indicate that the interference mitigation is likely to improveperformance of the data transmission between the source and destinationdevices 102, 104.

For example, in one or more exemplary embodiments, in response todetecting communications on the second wireless communications channel120, the destination device 104 (or alternatively, an auxiliary device106, 108 in the vicinity of the destination device 104) monitors thesecond wireless communications channel 120 and calculates or otherwisedetermines a utilization ratio (or utilization rate) for the potentiallyinterfering device 130 on the second wireless communications channel 120based on the detected communications. As used herein, the utilizationratio should be understood as referring to the percentage of time duringwhich a given device is transmitting data on a given communicationschannel. When the utilization ratio is greater than a thresholdpercentage, the destination device 104 (or the auxiliary device 106, 108in its vicinity) determines that the potentially interfering device 130should be mitigated. Conversely, when the utilization ratio is less thanthe threshold percentage, the destination device 104 (or the auxiliarydevice 106, 108 in its vicinity) determines that the potentiallyinterfering device 130 should not be mitigated and the mitigationprocess 300 may exit or repeat the steps of detecting the presence ofone or more additional potentially interfering devices and determiningwhether to attempt to mitigate those additional potentially interferingdevice(s) (e.g., tasks 302, 304). For example, if the utilization ratioof the potentially interfering device 130 is less than 50%, themitigation process 300 may determine that the potentially interferingdevice 130 should not be mitigated because further reducing theutilization ratio of the potentially interfering device 130 may not besufficiently likely to improve the performance of the data transmission.

In another embodiment, in addition to or in alternative to determiningthe utilization ratio, the destination device 104 (or an auxiliarydevice 106, 108 in its vicinity) monitors the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 and calculates or otherwise determines asignal strength for the potentially interfering device 130 on the secondwireless communications channel 120 and compares the signal strength toa mitigation threshold signal strength. In this regard, when thereceived signal strength for communications from the potentiallyinterfering device 130 is less than the mitigation threshold signalstrength, the mitigation process 300 may determine that the furtherreducing the utilization ratio of the potentially interfering device 130may not be sufficiently likely to improve the performance of the datatransmission. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the mitigation process300 may determine whether or not to attempt to mitigate the potentiallyinterfering device 130 based on a combination of its utilization ratioand the received signal strength. In this regard, in practicalembodiments, the mitigation process 300 may attempt to mitigate arelatively high utilization ratio at a relatively low signal strengthwhile not attempting to mitigate a relatively low utilization ratio atthat same relatively high signal strength, and similarly, the mitigationprocess 300 may attempt to mitigate a relatively low utilization ratioat a relatively high signal strength while not attempting to mitigatethat relatively low utilization ratio at a lower signal strength. Itshould be appreciated that in practical embodiments, more complexschemes may be employed to determine whether or not to attempt tomitigate potential interference based on a numerous possiblecombinations of numerous different interference metrics, andaccordingly, the subject matter described herein is not limited to anyparticular interference metric or any particular manner of determiningwhether or not to continue with the mitigation process 300.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in response to determining that mitigation ofthe potential interference should be attempted based on the interferencemetric(s) associated with the potential interference (e.g., the detectedcommunications), the mitigation process 300 continues by identifying apotential mitigating device from among the auxiliary devices in themedia system and operating the identified mitigating device on the samecommunications channel as the detected interference in a manner that isconfigured to reduce the utilization ratio of the potentiallyinterfering device(s) on that communications channel (tasks 306, 308).In exemplary embodiments, the media system 100 implements or otherwiseperforms the mitigating device identification process 400 described ingreater detail below in the context of FIG. 4 to identify a set ofauxiliary devices 106, 108 in the media system 100 that may be utilizedas a mitigating device. After identifying a set of potential mitigatingdevices, in one or more embodiments, the mitigation process 300 selectsor otherwise identifies an auxiliary device from the set of potentialmitigating devices that is most likely to be effective at mitigating theinterference and/or improving the data transmission, such as, forexample, the auxiliary device receives the communications from theinterfering device 130 with the highest signal strength from among theset of potential mitigating devices. Thereafter, the mitigation process300 signals, commands, or otherwise instructs the initially identifiedauxiliary device to operate its communications interface to transmitdata over the second wireless communications channel 120 in a mannerthat is configured to reduce the utilization ratio of the interferingdevice 130 on the second wireless communications channel 120.

For example, in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, the auxiliarydevices 106, 108 may be identified as the set of potential mitigatingdevices by performing the identification process 400, and thereafter,when the received signal strength for communications from theinterfering device 130 is higher for the first auxiliary device 106relative to the second auxiliary device 108, the source device 102and/or the destination device 104 may select or otherwise identify thefirst auxiliary device 106 as the initial mitigating device. Thereafter,the source device 102 and/or the destination device 104 signals,commands, or otherwise instructs the identified auxiliary device 106 tooperate its communications interface 107 to transmit data over thesecond wireless communications channel 120 with a utilization ratio thatis intended to result in the interfering device 130 reducing itsutilization on the second wireless communications channel 120. Forexample, the source device 102 and/or the destination device 104 maysignal the identified auxiliary device 106 to transmit dummy data overthe second wireless communications channel 120 with a utilization ratioof about 50% or more. In this regard, in response to detecting theadditional dummy data being transmitted on the second wirelesscommunications channel 120, the potentially interfering device 130 mayreduce its utilization ratio to accommodate the additionalcommunications on the second wireless communications channel 120,thereby reducing the amount of interference on the data transmissionbetween the source device 102 and the destination device 104 that wouldotherwise be attributable to the interfering device 130. For example,when the second wireless communications channel 120 is realized as an802.11b channel and the devices 106, 130 are compliant with the 802.11bspecification, the devices 106, 130 may implement or otherwise performcarrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA),request-to-send (RTS), and/or clear-to-send (CTS) mechanisms, which, inturn, results in the interfering device 130 reducing its utilizationratio.

Referring again to FIG. 3, in exemplary embodiments, the mitigationprocess 300 detects or otherwise determines whether the operation of themitigating device is effective (task 310). When the attempted mitigationis not effective and another possible mitigating device is available,the mitigation process 300 selects or otherwise identifies anotherpossible mitigating device from among the possible mitigating devices inthe media system and operating the identified mitigating device in asimilar manner as described above (tasks 306, 308, 310, 312). In thisregard, operation of the initially identified mitigating device may beineffective for one reason or another, in which case, another auxiliarydevice in the media system 100 may be chosen for the mitigationoperation. For example, after signaling the first mitigating device 106to transmit dummy data over the second wireless communications channel120, the source device 102 may continue transmitting data to thedestination device 104 and monitoring or otherwise tracking theperformance of the data transmission over the first wirelesscommunications channel 110. When the source device 102 fails to identifyany improvement in the desired performance metric(s) of the datatransmission to the destination device 104, the source device 102 mayidentify the second auxiliary device 108 as another possible mitigatingdevice and thereafter signal, command, or otherwise instruct the secondauxiliary device 108 to transmit dummy data over the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 in a similar manner as described above. Insome embodiments, the source device 102 may also signal, command, orotherwise instruct the first mitigating device 106 to cease transmittingdummy data over the second communications channel 120 while the secondmitigating device 108 is transmitting dummy data over the secondcommunications channel 120. In other embodiments, the first mitigatingdevice 106 may continue transmitting dummy data over the secondcommunications channel 120 concurrently with the second mitigatingdevice 108.

In a similar manner as described above, after signaling the secondmitigating device 108 to transmit dummy data over the second wirelesscommunications channel 120, the source device 102 may continuetransmitting data to the destination device 104 and monitoring orotherwise tracking the performance of the data transmission over thefirst wireless communications channel 110. In some embodiments, when thesource device 102 fails to identify any improvement in the desiredperformance metric(s) of the data transmission to the destination device104, the source device 102 may attempt to identify additional possiblemitigating devices within the media system 100 (task 312). If noadditional possible mitigating devices are available within the mediasystem 100, the mitigation process 300 determines that the media system100 is currently unable to mitigate the interference with the datatransmission and achieve a desired transmission performance increase. Insuch situations, the mitigation process 300 signals, commands, orotherwise instructs the potential mitigating devices to cease operatingon the same communications channel as the potentially interfering device(task 316) to avoid unnecessarily impacting performance of thepotentially interfering device and exits.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in the illustrated embodiment, afteroperating an auxiliary device to mitigate interference on the datatransmission between the source and destination devices, the mitigationprocess 300 continues by determining, detecting, or otherwiseidentifying whether the interference mitigation is still desirable andceases or otherwise stops operation of the auxiliary device(s) tomitigate interference in response to determining the interferencemitigation is no longer desirable (tasks 314, 316). In this manner, themitigation process 300 allows the interfering device 130 to resume itsprevious utilization ratio once the interference mitigation issufficient for the purposes of the data transmission between the sourceand destination devices 102, 104. For example, when the source device102 is streaming a media program to the destination device 104, thesource device 102 may automatically identify when the entirety of themedia program has been transmitted, when the media program is over, whenthe destination device 104 is no longer presenting the media program toa user, or the like. Thereafter, the source device 102 may automaticallysignal or otherwise instruct the mitigating device 106 to ceasetransmitting data over the second communications channel 120. In yetother embodiments, prior to signaling the mitigating device 106 totransmit dummy data, the source device 102 may calculate or otherwisedetermine the remaining duration of the data (or media program) beingtransmitted to the destination device 104 and signal, command, orotherwise instruct the mitigating device 106 to transmit dummy data overthe second wireless communications channel 120 only for that remainingduration. In this manner, the mitigating device 106 may automaticallycease transmitting data over the second wireless communications channel120 after that amount of time has elapsed and the data transmission overthe first wireless communications channel 110 is likely to be complete.

In some embodiments, the source device 102 and/or the destination device104 may continue monitoring one or more performance metric(s) associatedwith the data transmission and detect or otherwise identify that theinterference mitigation is no longer necessary based on the performancemetric(s). Thus, the source device 102 and/or the destination device 104may stop the interference mitigation when it is determined thatimprovements to the performance metric(s) associated with the datatransmission make it unlikely that the interference mitigation will bedesirable for the remainder of the transmission. For example, sourcedevice 102 may calculate or otherwise determine the remaining durationof the data (or media program), and based on the remaining duration andthe current transmission throughput, buffer status, or the like, thesource device 102 may determine that it is likely that the remainder ofthe data transmission can be completed without buffering or interruptingthe streaming media program, and thereafter instruct or otherwisecommand the mitigating device 106 to stop transmitting dummy data overthe second wireless communications channel 120. In this manner, theoverall impact on the operations of the interfering device 130 can belimited.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, a mitigating device 106may dynamically adjust the utilization ratio and/or the transmissionpower associated with the dummy data based on the performance metric(s)associated with the data transmission between the source device 102and/or the destination device 104. For example, the mitigating device106 may initially transmit the dummy data at an initial utilizationratio and an initial transmission power, such as a maximum allowedutilization ratio (e.g., 90%) and/or a maximum allowed transmissionpower or some other combination of utilization ratio and transmissionpower that is sufficiently likely to reduce interference by theinterfering device 130. When the source device 102 identifiesimprovement in the desired performance metric(s) of the datatransmission to the destination device 104 (e.g., task 310), the sourcedevice 102 may signal, command, or otherwise instruct the mitigatingdevice 106 to incrementally decrease the utilization ratio and/or thetransmission power associated with the dummy data. As long as theperformance metric(s) of the data transmission to the destination device104 are maintained at the desired level(s), the source device 102 maycontinue signaling the mitigating device 106 to incrementally decreasethe utilization ratio and/or the transmission power associated with thedummy data, to thereby limit its impact on the operations of theinterfering device 130 and/or other devices on the second communicationschannel 120. Conversely, if the source device 102 identifies mitigationis no longer as effective as desired based on the performance metric(s)of the data transmission to the destination device 104, the sourcedevice 102 may signal, command, or otherwise instruct the mitigatingdevice 106 to incrementally increase the utilization ratio and/or thetransmission power associated with the dummy data. As long as theperformance metric(s) of the data transmission to the destination device104 not at the desired level(s), the source device 102 may continuesignaling the mitigating device 106 to incrementally increase theutilization ratio and/or the transmission power associated with thedummy data. In this regard, in some embodiments of the mitigationprocess 300 prior to attempting to utilize another potential mitigatingdevice when the initial attempted mitigation is not effective (e.g.,task 312), the mitigation process 300 may signal or otherwise commandthe current mitigating device to increase the utilization ratio and/orthe transmission power associated with the dummy data until determiningthat the current mitigating device is not capable of mitigatinginterference before identifying another potential mitigating device.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a mitigating deviceidentification process 400 suitable for implementation by a mediasystem, such as media system 100, to identify a set of potentialauxiliary devices that may be utilized to mitigate interference (e.g.,task 306). The various tasks performed in connection with theillustrated process 400 may be implemented using hardware, firmware,software executed by processing circuitry, or any combination thereof.For illustrative purposes, the following description may refer toelements mentioned above in connection with FIG. 1. In practice,portions of the mitigation process 400 may be performed by differentelements of the media system 100, such as, for example, the sourcedevice 102, the destination device 104, or one or more auxiliary devices106, 108. It should be appreciated that the identification process 400may include any number of additional or alternative tasks, the tasksneed not be performed in the illustrated order and/or the tasks may beperformed concurrently, and/or the identification process 400 may beincorporated into a more comprehensive procedure or process havingadditional functionality not described in detail herein. Moreover, oneor more of the tasks shown and described in the context of FIG. 4 couldbe omitted from a practical embodiment of the identification process 400as long as the intended overall functionality remains intact.

In exemplary embodiments, the identification process 400 begins byselecting or otherwise identifying an auxiliary device within the mediasystem for evaluation and determining whether that auxiliary device isavailable to be operated to reduce the utilization ratio of theinterfering device (task 402). In this regard, the identificationprocess 400 determines whether the resources of a respective auxiliarydevice 106, 108 are currently preoccupied with transmitting data withinthe media system 100 or otherwise performing relatively higher priorityfunctions that should not be disrupted for purposes of mitigatinginterference with the data transmission between source and destinationdevices 102, 104. When auxiliary device is unavailable, theidentification process 400 removes or otherwise excludes the auxiliarydevice from the set of possible mitigating devices (task 416).

In exemplary embodiments, for each device 106, 108 within the mediasystem 100 other than the source and destination devices 102, 104, theidentification process 400 determines or otherwise identifies whetherthe communications interface 107, 109 of the respective auxiliary device106, 108 is capable of being utilized to transmit mitigating data overthe second wireless communications channel 120. For example, if theidentification process 400 is being implemented by the source device102, the source device 102 may poll or otherwise query each auxiliarydevice 106, 108 to ascertain whether the respective auxiliary device106, 108 is currently utilizing its communications interface 107, 109 totransmit and/or receive data (e.g., to/from another device within themedia system 100). When an auxiliary device 106, 108 is currentlyutilizing its communications interface 107, 109 for other datatransmissions, the source device 102 excludes or otherwise removes theauxiliary device 106, 108 from the set of potential mitigating deviceswithin the media system 100.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the identification process 400determines or otherwise identifies whether processing resources of therespective auxiliary device 106, 108 are currently performing relativelyhigher priority functionality that should not be disrupted solely forpurposes of mitigating interference with the data transmission betweensource and destination devices 102, 104. For example, the source device102 may poll or otherwise query each auxiliary device 106, 108 toascertain whether the respective auxiliary device 106, 108 is currentlydedicating its processing resources to performing an operation thatshould not be slowed or otherwise disrupted by transmitting mitigatingdata over the second wireless communications channel 120, such as, forexample, recording, transcoding, and/or presenting a media program. Inthis regard, to prevent degradation of the user experience of a user ofa respective auxiliary device 106, 108, that respective auxiliary device106, 108 may also be excluded from the set of potential mitigatingdevices within the media system 100 when it is currently performing anoperation that is likely to be impaired, delayed, or otherwise disruptedby allocating processing resources to transmitting mitigating data overthe second wireless communications channel 120.

In the illustrated embodiment, the identification process 400 continuesby obtaining the received signal strength with respect to theinterfering device for the auxiliary device being evaluated andidentifying or otherwise determining whether the auxiliary device iscapable of mitigating interference attributable to the interferingdevice (tasks 404, 406). In this regard, the identification process 400ensures that the auxiliary device being evaluated is withincommunications range of the interfering device, such that theinterfering device is capable of detecting, receiving or otherwiseresponding to transmissions by the auxiliary device. Conversely, theidentification process 400 excludes or otherwise removes an auxiliarydevice from the set of potential mitigating devices when the signalstrength between the auxiliary device and the interfering device isbelow a threshold value that indicates the auxiliary device is notwithin communications range of the interfering device or is otherwiseunlikely to be capable of reducing the utilization ratio of theinterfering device by a desired amount (task 416). For example, thethreshold value for the interference signal strength may be chosen to bea minimum interference signal strength value (e.g., −88 dBm) at whichoperation of the auxiliary device to transmit mitigating dummy data ismore likely than not to reduce the utilization ratio of the interferingdevice and/or increase performance of the data transmission betweensource and destination devices by a desired amount.

In exemplary embodiments, the source device 102 commands, signals, orotherwise instructs the other auxiliary devices 106, 108 within themedia system 100 to operate their respective communications interfaces107, 109 to monitor or otherwise listen to the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 to verify or otherwise confirm they are inrange of the potentially interfering device 130 and determine therespective received signal strength for communications from thepotentially interfering device 130. When the interference signalstrength between the interfering device 130 and a respective auxiliarydevice 106, 108 is less than a threshold value, the source device 102and/or the identification process 400 may determine that operation ofthe respective auxiliary device 106, 108 to transmit mitigating data isunlikely to improve performance of the data transmission between sourceand destination devices 102, 104 and exclude the respective auxiliarydevice 106, 108 from the set of potential mitigating devices within themedia system 100. In this manner, a respective auxiliary device 106, 108may not be utilized by the mitigation process 300 when operation of thatrespective auxiliary device 106, 108 is unlikely to be worthwhile.

In the illustrated embodiment, the identification process 400 continuesby obtaining the signal strength with respect to the destination devicefor the auxiliary device being evaluated and identifying or otherwisedetermining whether the auxiliary device is likely to increaseinterference with the data transmission between source and destinationdevices (tasks 408, 410). In this regard, the identification process 400excludes or otherwise removes an auxiliary device from the set ofpotential mitigating devices when the signal strength between theauxiliary device and the destination device (alternatively, thedestination signal strength) indicates that operation of the auxiliarydevice to transmit mitigating dummy data is likely to increaseinterference (or alternatively, fail to decrease interference by atleast a desired threshold amount) with the data transmission betweensource and destination devices (task 416). In this manner, when thereduction in the utilization ratio of the interfering device 130 islikely to be offset by the increase in the utilization ratio of theauxiliary device 106, 108 being evaluated, or when the increase in theutilization ratio of the auxiliary device 106, 108 being evaluated isotherwise likely to increase interference with the data transmissionbetween the source and destination devices 102, 104, the auxiliarydevice 106, 108 is excluded from the set of potential mitigatingdevices.

In exemplary embodiments, the identification process 400 excludesauxiliary devices having a signal strength at the destination devicethat is greater than or equal to the signal strength of the interferingdevice at the destination device. For example, if the signal strength ofthe auxiliary device 108 at the destination device 104 is greater thanthe signal strength of the interfering device 130 at the destinationdevice 104, the auxiliary device 108 may be excluded from the set ofpotential mitigating devices within the media system 100 becauseoperation of the auxiliary device 108 is likely to create moreinterference with destination device 104 than what was originallycreated by interfering device 130.

In one or more embodiments, the identification process 400 may alsoexclude auxiliary devices having a destination signal strength that isgreater than or equal to a threshold value. In this regard, thethreshold destination signal strength value may be chosen to be a valuethat indicates that the operation of the auxiliary device beingevaluated is likely to interfere with the data transmission between thesource and destination devices regardless of the interference signalstrength between the destination device and the interfering device. Forexample, if the signal strength of the auxiliary device 108 at thedestination device 104 is greater than −10 dBm, the auxiliary device 108may be excluded from the set of potential mitigating devices within themedia system 100 because operation of the auxiliary device 108 on thesecond wireless communications channel 120 is sufficiently likely tointerfere with the data transmission between the source and destinationdevices 102, 104.

In some embodiments, the identification process 400 may also excludeauxiliary devices having a destination signal strength that is greaterthan or equal to the transmission signal strength of the source deviceat the destination device. For example, if the signal strength of theauxiliary device 108 at the destination device 104 is greater than thesignal strength of the source device 102 at the destination device 104,the auxiliary device 108 may be excluded from the set of potentialmitigating devices within the media system 100.

Still referring to FIG. 4, the illustrated identification process 400continues by determining or otherwise identifying whether operation ofthe auxiliary device being evaluated is likely to interfere with otherdevices within the media system, and excluding or otherwise removing theauxiliary device from the set of potential mitigating devices whenoperation of the auxiliary device is likely to interfere with otherdevices within the media system (tasks 412, 416). In this manner, theidentification process 400 identifies the auxiliary device beingevaluated as a potential mitigating device when operating that auxiliarydevice is capable of mitigating the interference attributable to theinterfering device without substantially interfering with the datatransmission between source and destination devices or datatransmissions by other devices within the media system (task 414). Forexample, if the auxiliary device 108 is located near another devicewithin the media system 100 that is also transmitting data over thefirst wireless communications channel 110, the identification process400 may exclude the auxiliary device 108 from the set of potentialmitigating devices based on the signal strength between the auxiliarydevice 108 and that other device exceeding a threshold value or based onthe distance between the auxiliary device 108 and the other device beingless than a threshold distance. In this regard, upon initialization ofthe media system 100, location information for the various devices 102,104, 106, 108 may be established and stored or otherwise maintainedwithin the media system 100 (e.g., by the respective device 102, 104,106, 108 implementing the identification process 400) and utilized todetect or otherwise identify when a respective auxiliary device 106, 108is within a threshold distance of another device that may be activelytransmitting data on the first wireless communications channel 110.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, after performing the identification process 400,in exemplary embodiments, the mitigation process 300 selects orotherwise identifies an auxiliary device from among the set of potentialmitigating devices within the media system 100, operates the selectedauxiliary device on the second wireless communications channel 120 in amanner that is configured to reduce the utilization ratio of theinterfering device 130 on the second wireless communications channel120, and selects or otherwise identifies another auxiliary device fromamong the set of possible mitigating devices when the operation of thepreviously selected auxiliary device was not effective (tasks 306, 308,310, 312). Thus, the mitigation process 300 may test, try, or otherwisecycle through each of the auxiliary devices in the set of possiblemitigating devices identified by the identification process 400 until aneffective auxiliary device is selected or all of the auxiliary devicesin the set of possible mitigating devices have been tested. For example,the identification process 400 may identifies auxiliary devices 106, 108as potential mitigating devices in the media system 100 that areavailable and capable of mitigating interference without increasinginterference with the data transmission between source and destinationdevices 102, 104 and without interfering with other devices within themedia system 100. Thereafter, the mitigation process 300 may select orotherwise identify the auxiliary device 106, 108 having the greatestinterference signal strength with respect to the interfering device 130as an initial mitigating device. For example, if the interference signalstrength between the auxiliary device 108 and the interfering device 130is −50 dBm and the interference signal strength between the auxiliarydevice 106 and the interfering device 130 is −60 dBm, the source device102 may select auxiliary device 108 as the initial mitigating device andsignal or otherwise instruct the auxiliary device 108 to transmitmitigating dummy data over the second wireless communications channel120.

Thereafter, if the source device 102 determines that the operation ofthe auxiliary device 108 is not resulting in the desired amount ofimprovement to the performance metric(s) of the data transmission withthe destination device 104, the source device 102 may signal orotherwise instruct the auxiliary device 108 to cease transmit mitigatingdummy data over the second wireless communications channel 120 andselect or otherwise identify auxiliary device 106 as the next mitigatingdevice. Again, the source device 102 may signal or otherwise instructthe auxiliary device 106 to transmit mitigating dummy data over thesecond wireless communications channel 120, and similarly, if the sourcedevice 102 determines that the operation of the auxiliary device 106 isnot resulting in the desired amount of improvement to the datatransmission performance, the source device 102 may signal or otherwiseinstruct the auxiliary device 106 to cease transmitting mitigating dummydata. Otherwise, when the operation of the auxiliary device 106 achievesthe desired amount of improvement to the data transmission performance,the auxiliary device 106 continues to transmit mitigating dummy datauntil the data transmission between the source device 102 and thedestination device 104 is completed or otherwise improved to a levelwhere the interference mitigation is no longer desired or otherwiseneeded.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary sequence 500 of communications within themedia system 100 of FIG. 1 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe processes 200, 300, 400 described above in the context of FIGS. 2-4.As described above in the context of the placeshifting process 200 ofFIG. 2, the sequence 500 begins with the source device 102 transmitting502 data to the destination device 104 via a peer-to-peer communicationssession on the first wireless communications channel 110 (e.g., task202). For example, a user may manipulate or otherwise interact with thedestination device 104 to identify or otherwise input a media programavailable via the source device 102 that the user would like toplaceshift to the destination device 104 (e.g., to stream the mediaprogram via the destination device 104, store the media program on thedestination device 104, or the like). Thereafter, the destination device104 communicates with the source device 102 over the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 to establish the peer-to-peer communicationssession and initiate the data transmission 502 corresponding to theselected media program.

In the illustrated embodiment, during the data transmission 502, thesource device 102 monitors the transmission performance (e.g., task 204)and detects or otherwise identifies interference with the transmissionperformance that should be mitigated (e.g., task 206). After identifyinga transmission performance impairment that is likely attributable tointerference that should be mitigated, the source device 102 initiatesthe mitigation process 300 (e.g., task 208) by signaling or otherwiseinstructing 504 the destination device 104 to scan or otherwise monitorother communications channels for potentially interfering devices. Itshould be noted that in alternative embodiments of the placeshiftingprocess 200, instead of or in addition to the source device 102monitoring the transmission performance, the destination device 104 maymonitor the transmission performance, detect interference with thetransmission performance that should be mitigated, and initiate themitigation process 300 by automatically scanning, listening to, orotherwise monitoring other communications channels for potentiallyinterfering devices, in which case, the instructions 504 from the sourcedevice 102 may not be present in such embodiments of the placeshiftingprocess 200. Additionally, as described above, in other alternativeembodiments of the placeshifting process 200, instead of instructing thedestination device 104, the source device 102 may instruct anotherauxiliary device 106, 108 in the media system 100 whose location issufficiently close to the destination device 104 to monitor othercommunications channels and identify potentially interfering devices,thereby allowing the communications interface 105 and/or other resourcesof the destination device 104 to maintain their current level ofallocation to the data transmission 502 from the source device 102.

Referring again to the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5 with referenceto FIGS. 1-4, after receiving the instructions 504 from the sourcedevice 102, the destination device 104 monitors 506 the second wirelesscommunications channel 120 and identifies the potentially interferingdevice 130 communicating thereon (e.g., task 302). In exemplaryembodiments, while monitoring 506 the second wireless communicationschannel 120, the destination device 104 also determines or otherwiseobtains the utilization ratio for the interfering device 130 and thesignal strength at the location of the destination device 104 for thedetected communications from the interfering device 130. Thereafter, thedestination device 104 transmits or otherwise provides 508, to thesource device 102, indication of the second wireless communicationschannel 120 that the interfering device 130 is communicating on, theutilization ratio of the interfering device 130, and the interferencesignal strength at the location of the destination device 104. Based onthe utilization ratio and/or the interference signal strength, thesource device 102 determines whether attempts should be made to mitigatethe impact of the potentially interfering device 130. In otherembodiments, the destination device 104 may determine whether attemptsshould be made to mitigate the impact of the potentially interferingdevice 130 and then notify the source device 102 accordingly.

In the illustrated embodiment, after determining the interference shouldbe mitigated, the source device 102 communicates 510, 512 with the otherauxiliary devices 106, 108 in the media system 100 and performs anidentification process 400 to identify a set of potential mitigatingdevices (e.g., task 306). In this regard, the source device 102communicates 510 with the first auxiliary device 106 to confirm that thefirst auxiliary device 106 is not currently utilizing its communicationsinterface 107 or otherwise performing relatively higher priorityoperations (e.g., task 402) before transmitting or otherwise providingsignals or instructions to operate its communications interface 107 onthe communications channels 110, 120. The instructions from the sourcedevice 102 cause the auxiliary device 106 to determine or otherwiseobtain the signal strength between the first auxiliary device 106 andthe interfering device 130, the signal strength between the firstauxiliary device 106 and the destination device 104, and/or the signalstrength between the first auxiliary device 106 and the source device102 and/or other devices with in the media system 100 that may becommunicating data. The auxiliary device 106 transmits or otherwiseprovides 510 the obtained signal strengths to the source device 102,which, in turn, determines whether to include the first auxiliary device106 in the set of possible mitigating devices based on those signalstrengths (e.g., tasks 406, 410, 412). In a similar manner, the sourcedevice 102 communicates 512 with the second auxiliary device 108 toperform or otherwise implement the identification process 400 anddetermine whether to include the second auxiliary device 108 in the setof possible mitigating devices based on the signal strengths obtainedfrom the second auxiliary device 108.

After determining that both auxiliary devices 106, 108 are potentialmitigating devices, the source device 102 may analyze or otherwisecompare the signal strengths between the respective auxiliary devices106, 108 and the destination device 104 and/or the interfering device130 to identify an initial mitigating device. For example, when thesignal strength of the first auxiliary device 106 at the destinationdevice 104 is less than the signal strength of the second auxiliarydevice 108 at the destination device 104, the source device 102 mayidentify the first auxiliary device 106 as the initial mitigatingdevice. In an alternative embodiment, the source device 102 may identifythe first auxiliary device 106 as the initial mitigating device when thesignal strength between the first auxiliary device 106 and theinterfering device 130 is greater than the signal strength between thesecond auxiliary device 108 and the interfering device 130, or based onsome other combination of signal strengths between the destinationdevice 104, the interfering device 130, the source device 102 and/orother devices in the media system 100.

After determining the first auxiliary device 106 should be utilized forthe initial attempt to mitigate interference, the source device 102signals or otherwise instructs 514 the first auxiliary device 106 tobegin operating on the second wireless communications channel 120 in amanner that is configured to reduce the utilization ratio of theinterfering device 130 (e.g., task 308). In this regard, theinstructions transmitted by the source device 102 are configured tocause the auxiliary device 106 to operate its communications interface107 to broadcast or otherwise transmit 516 dummy data over the secondwireless communications channel 120. The dummy data may include asequence of one or more packets which are intended to result in thecollision detection schemes implemented by the interfering device 130detecting or otherwise identifying the presence of the first auxiliarydevice 106 on the second wireless communications channel 120, which, inturn, results in the interfering device 130 reducing its utilizationratio of the second wireless communications channel 120 to avoidcollisions.

As described above in the context of FIG. 3, after instructing 514 theidentified mitigating device 106 to begin mitigation operation, thesource device 102 may continue transmitting data to the destinationdevice 104 via the first wireless communications channel 110 andmonitoring the performance metrics associated with the data transmissionto verify or otherwise confirm that the operation of the mitigatingdevice 106 is resulting in a desired level of improvement with respectto the data transmission. In this regard, when the transmission 516 ofdummy data by the mitigating device 106 improves the performancemetric(s) of the data transmission by at least a desired amount, themitigating device 106 continually and/or repeatedly transmits 518, 520the dummy data over the second wireless communications channel 120 untilthe interference mitigation is no longer desired (e.g., task 314). Forexample, when the destination device 104 is streaming the data for theselected media program to a display device, the destination device 104may detect or otherwise determine when the streaming of the selectedmedia program is completed and transmit or otherwise provide anotification 522 to the source device 102 that the interferencemitigation is no longer desired. The destination device 104 may alsonotify 522 the source device 102 when a user manipulates or otherwiseinteracts with the destination device 104 to stop presentation of thestreaming media program (e.g., by changing the channel or selectinganother media program, powering off the display device and/or thedestination device 104, or the like). As described above in the contextof FIG. 3, in some embodiments, in lieu of receiving the notification522, the source device 102 may monitor the performance of the datatransmission to the destination device 104 and determine that theinterference mitigation is no longer desired based on improvements inthe data transmission performance relative to the remaining duration ofthe media program. Similarly, the destination device 104 may monitor theperformance of the data transmission and provide the notification 522 inresponse to determining that the interference mitigation is no longerdesired based on improvements in the data transmission performance.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5, in response to determining theinterference mitigation is no longer desired, the source device 102 mayautomatically transmit or otherwise provide 524 a correspondingnotification to the mitigating device 106 to cease transmitting dataover the second wireless communications channel 120. In this manner, theinterfering device 130 is allowed to revert to its previous utilizationratio when the interference mitigation is no longer desired. Asdescribed above in the context of FIG. 3, in some embodiments, theinitial instructions 514 transmitted by the source device 102 to themitigating device 106 may be configured to cause the mitigating device106 to only transmit 516, 518, 520 the dummy data for the remainingduration of a media program being streamed to the destination device104. In such embodiments, the mitigating device 106 may automaticallycease transmitting dummy data once an amount of time equal to theremaining duration of the media program has elapsed without relying onthe notifications 522, 524 to cease transmission of the dummy data.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a media device 600 suitablefor use as one or more of the devices 102, 104, 106, 108 in the mediasystem 100. For example, referring to FIG. 1, in accordance with one ormore embodiments, the media system 100 comprises a network ofcommunicatively coupled media devices 102, 104, 106, 108, where eachdevice 102, 104, 106, 108 is be realized as a separate instance of themedia device 600. In exemplary embodiments, at least the source device102 is realized as the media device 600. In this regard, in someembodiments, the source device 102 may be the only instance of the mediadevice 600 that is capable of receiving media programs from an externalcontent source. For example, the other instances of the media device 600within the media system 100 may not include or otherwise be coupled toan access card 609, an antenna 606, and/or a receiver interface 632,such that those instances receive media programs from external sourcesvia the source media device 102, 600 by performing the placeshiftingprocess 200 described above. Thus, the mitigation process 300 of FIG. 3may be performed to mitigate interference while one instance of themedia device 600 within the media system 100 is receiving a broadcastmedia program from the broadcast content source 604 by way of the sourcemedia device 102, 600 streaming the data for that broadcast mediaprogram from the broadcast content source 604 to that destination mediadevice 104, 600 over a first wireless communications channel 110.

Referring to FIG. 6, in exemplary embodiments, the media device 600generally represents any component, hardware or the like capable ofreceiving and processing media content and providing media content to adisplay device 602 for presentation by or on the display device 602.Depending on the embodiment, the display device 602 may be realized as atelevision, monitor, liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode(LED) display, plasma display, or the like that graphically presents,renders, or otherwise displays imagery and/or video corresponding tomedia content provided by the media device 600. In some embodiments,media device 600 is a set-top box (STB) or similar system that is ableto receive television programming and/or to record certain mediaprograms. Exemplary embodiments of media device 600 will thereforeinclude a receiver interface 616 for receiving satellite, cable and/orbroadcast programming signals from broadcast content sources 604, aswell as a data storage element 614 (e.g., a hard disk, flash memory, oranother suitable non-volatile non-transitory data storage element) tosupport a digital video recorder (DVR) feature and/or functionality, adisplay interface 612 for providing imagery and/or video correspondingto a media program to the primary display device 602, one or more inputelements (e.g., an input/output interface 618 to a remote control orother user input device 608) for receiving user inputs to media device600, and a control module 610 that directs, manages, or otherwisecontrols the operations of the media device 600 as appropriate. Forconvenience, but without limitation, the data storage medium 614 isalternatively referred to herein as a DVR. In some embodiments, themedia device 600 may also include an access card interface or cardreader 638 adapted to receive an access card 609 (or viewing card)configured to ensure that the viewer is authorized to view media contentprovided to the display device 602. In this regard, the access card 609may include includes unique identification information associated with aparticular subscriber to the broadcast content source 604 or otherwiseinclude information that facilitates receiving and/or decoding mediacontent provided by the broadcast content source 604.

The communications interface 620 generally represents the component,hardware or the like of the media device 600 that facilitatescommunications with the other devices, such as other instances of themedia device 600 (e.g., a destination media device 104) via a wirelesscommunications channel (e.g., first wireless communications channel110). Accordingly, depending on the embodiment, the communicationsinterface 620 may include or otherwise be realized as one or more of anIEEE 802.11 wireless transceiver (e.g., “WiFi”), a Bluetoothtransceiver, a cellular transceiver, a wired network interfacecontroller (e.g., Ethernet), or the like. That said, in exemplaryembodiments described herein, the communications interface 620 includesor is otherwise realized as a wireless network adapter that facilitatescommunications with other devices within a vicinity of the media device600. It should be noted that the communications interface 620 mayoperate on one frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 GHz carrier frequency band)while the I/O interface 618 operates at a lower frequency, such as, forexample, consumer infrared (e.g., carrier frequency in the range ofabout 30 kHz to about 60 kHz).

It should be appreciated that FIG. 6 depicts merely one exemplaryembodiment of a media device 600, and in practice, the media device 600may be physically and/or logically implemented in any manner to suit theneeds of a particular embodiment. In this regard, in some embodiments,the components in media device 600 may be provided within a commonchassis or housing as illustrated in FIG. 6, although equivalentembodiments may implement media device 600 with any number ofinter-connected but discrete components or systems. For example, in someembodiments, the media device 600 may be realized as a combination of aSTB and a placeshifting device, wherein some features of the mediadevice 600 (e.g., the DVR 614, the receiver 616, the display interface612, and/or I/O interface 618) are implemented by the STB and otherfeatures of the media device 600 (e.g., the communications interface620) are implemented by the placeshifting device, wherein theplaceshifting device works in conjunction with the STB to shift theviewing experience from the display device 602 associated with thesource media device 102, 600 to another instance of a display device 602associated with a destination media device 104, 600 via a wirelesscommunications channel 110. Examples of placeshifting devices that maybe used in some embodiments of media device 600 could include any of thevarious SLINGBOX products available from Sling Media of Foster City,Calif., although other products or services could be used in otherembodiments. Many different types of placeshifting devices are generallycapable of receiving media content from an external source, such as anysort of DVR or STB, cable or satellite programming source, DVD player,content servers, and/or the like. In other embodiments, placeshiftingfeatures are incorporated within the same device that providescontent-receiving or other capabilities. Media device 600 may be ahybrid DVR and/or receiver, for example, that also provides transcodingand placeshifting features. Examples of conventional placeshiftingfunctions, features, systems and structures are described in UnitedStates Patent Publication No. 2006/0095471, although the featuresdescribed herein could be equivalently applied with any number of othertechniques and structures in addition to those described in thatparticular publication.

Still referring to FIG. 6, in the illustrated embodiment, media device600 is capable of receiving digital broadcast satellite (DBS) signalstransmitted from a broadcast source 604, such as a satellite, using anantenna 606 that provides received signals to the receiver 616.Equivalent embodiments, however, could receive programming at receiver616 from any sort of cable connection, broadcast source, removablemedia, network service, external device and/or the like. The DVR 614feature stores recorded programming (e.g., broadcast programmingreceived via receiver 616) on a hard disk drive, memory, or otherstorage medium as appropriate in response to user/viewer programminginstructions, wherein the recorded programming may be subsequentlyviewed on the display device 602 or placeshifted to another device(e.g., destination media device 104, 600). Content stored in DVR 614 maybe any sort of file-based programming or other content that isaccessible to media device 600. Additionally, media content in DVR 614may be stored in any sort of compressed or uncompressed format, asdesired, and may be encoded or transcoded as desired for effectivereceipt, storage, retrieval and playing.

Control module 610 may be realized as any suitable combination ofhardware, firmware, and/or other components of the media device 600capable of directing, managing or otherwise controlling the operationsof media device 600 and supporting one or more of the processes 200,300, 400 described above in the context of FIGS. 1-5. The control module610 may include one or more processing systems and/or devices, such as,for example, one or more processors, central processing units (CPUs),graphics processing units (GPUs), controllers, microprocessors,microcontrollers, processing cores and/or other computing resources. Themedia device 600 includes a data storage element (or memory) 611 that iscoupled to or otherwise accessed by the control module 610 and storesprogramming instructions that, when read and executed, cause the controlmodule 610 to create, generate, or otherwise facilitate a placeshiftingapplication 630 that controls operations of the media device 600 andsupports the processes 200, 300, 400 described above in the context ofFIGS. 1-5 or otherwise performs various tasks, functions, processesand/or operations described herein. The memory 611 may be realized usingas random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory,magnetic or optical mass storage, or any other suitable configuration ofnon-transitory short or long term data storage or other non-transitorycomputer-readable media capable of storing programming instructions forexecution by the control module 610. In some embodiments, the controlmodule 610 is implemented as a “system on a chip” (SoC) thatincorporates a hybrid microcontroller with memory, input/output andother features to perform the various signal processing and otheractions of media device 600, and in which case a separate memory 611 maynot be provided.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a client device 700 suitablefor use as one or more of the devices 102, 104, 106, 108 in the mediasystem 100. For example, in some embodiments, one or more of the devices102, 104, 106, 108 may be realized as a separate instance of the clientdevice 700. The client device 700 generally represents any sort ofelectronic device capable of transmitting and/or receiving data over thecommunications channels 110, 120. Additionally, exemplary embodiments ofthe client device 700 are capable of playing or otherwise presentingmedia content, such as, for example, a streaming media programcorresponding to placeshifted data received from a source device 102 inthe media system 100. In this regard, depending on the embodiment, theclient device 700 may be realized as a mobile telephone, a laptop ornotebook computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a personaldigital assistant, a video game player, a portable media player and/orany other media playback device capable of rendering media contentreceived via the wireless communications channel 110.

In exemplary embodiments, the client device 700 includes or otherwiseexecutes an application 710 configured to support the processes oroperations described above in the context of FIGS. 1-6. For example,when the source device 102 or the destination device 104 is realized asan instance of the client device 700, the client device 700 may executeor otherwise generate a placeshifting application 710 configured toestablish a peer-to-peer communication session over the first wirelesscommunications channel 110 with a corresponding placeshiftingapplication on the other device 102, 104 and support the placeshiftingprocess 200 of FIG. 2 in conjunction with the mitigation process 300 ofFIG. 3. In the case of a destination client device 104, 700, theplaceshifting application 710 may also decode the media content datastream received from a source device 102 and present the media programon the display 702 associated with the client device 700, oralternatively, store the media program on the client device 700 forsubsequent presentation on the display 702. In a similar manner, when anauxiliary device 106, 108 is realized as an instance of the clientdevice 700, the client device 700 may execute or otherwise generate aninterference mitigation application 710 configured to support themitigation process 300 and/or the mitigating device identificationprocess 400 described above.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the client device 700 includes a processingsystem 704 that is coupled to the display 702 and a communicationsinterface 706, wherein the processing system 704 is configured toexecute or otherwise support the application 710 and the additionalprocesses, tasks, functions, and/or operations described herein. Thedisplay 702 generally represents the component, hardware or the like ofthe client device 700 that is capable of displaying, rendering, orotherwise presenting media content and/or other imagery that is receivedby or otherwise stored on the client device 700. In this regard, thedisplay 702 may be realized as a monitor, screen, or anotherconventional electronic display device capable of graphically presentingmedia content and/or other imagery.

The processing system 704 may be realized using any suitable processingsystem and/or devices, such as, for example, one or more processors,central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs),controllers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, processing cores and/orother computing resources configured to support the subject matterdescribed herein. In exemplary embodiments, the client device 700includes a data storage element (or memory) 708 that is coupled to orotherwise accessed by the processing system 704. The memory 708 may berealized using as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),flash memory, magnetic or optical mass storage, or any other suitableconfiguration of non-transitory short or long term data storage or othernon-transitory computer-readable media capable of storing programminginstructions for execution by the processing system 704. The storedprogramming instructions, when read and executed by the processingsystem 704, cause processing system 704 to create, generate, orotherwise facilitate the application 710.

The communications interface 706 generally represents the component,hardware or the like of the client device 700 that facilitatescommunications with other devices within the media system 100. Forexample, in one or more embodiments, the devices 102, 104, 106, 108 inthe media system 100 communicate over a wireless local area network(WLAN) (e.g., in accordance with one or more of the IEEE 802.11standards) that supports the transmission control protocol and/orinternet protocol (TCP/IP) or other conventional protocols, in whichcase the communications interface 706 is realized as a wireless adapter,a wireless transceiver, a wireless network interface controller, or thelike. In alternative embodiments, the communications interface 706 mayinclude or otherwise be realized as a Bluetooth transceiver, a cellulartransceiver, a wired network interface controller (e.g., Ethernet), orthe like.

To briefly summarize, by virtue of the subject matter described herein,a media program or other data may be reliably streamed or otherwiseplaceshifted from a source device to a destination device via a wirelesscommunications channel while other potentially interfering devices areoperating on one or more adjacent and/or overlapping wirelesscommunications channels by operating one or other devices in a mediasystem to reduce the frequency and/or amount of communications by thosepotentially interfering devices. Thus, the user experience at thedestination device is improved by reducing the likelihood of buffering,packet and/or data loss, and other performance impairments that couldotherwise be attributable to interference on adjacent and/or overlappingwireless communications channels. Additionally, the interferencemitigation is implemented in a manner that reduces the likelihood ofundesirably impacting the user experience for other devices in the mediasystem while also limiting the duration of the interference mitigation,which, in turn, limits its impact on the interfering devices.

The general systems, structures and techniques described above may beinter-combined, enhanced, modified and/or otherwise implemented toprovide any number of different features. In particular, the term“exemplary” is used herein to represent one example, instance orillustration that may have any number of alternates. Any implementationdescribed herein as “exemplary” should not necessarily be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other implementations.

The subject matter may be described herein in terms of functional and/orlogical block components, and with reference to symbolic representationsof operations, processing tasks, and functions that may be performed byvarious computing components or devices. It should be appreciated thatthe various block components shown in the figures may be realized by anynumber of hardware, software, and/or firmware components configured toperform the specified functions. For example, an embodiment of a systemor a component may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g.,memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements,look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functionsunder the control of one or more microprocessors or other controldevices. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figurescontained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in an embodiment ofthe subject matter. In addition, certain terminology may also be usedherein for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended tobe limiting. For example, terms such as “first,” “second” and other suchnumerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or orderunless clearly indicated by the context.

While several exemplary embodiments have been presented in the foregoingdetailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number ofalternate but equivalent variations exist, and the examples presentedherein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, orconfiguration of the invention in any way. To the contrary, variouschanges may be made in the function and arrangement of the variousfeatures described herein without departing from the scope of the claimsand their legal equivalents. Accordingly, details of the exemplaryembodiments or other limitations described above should not be read intothe claims absent a clear intention to the contrary.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of transmitting data from a sourcedevice to a destination device over a first communications channel, themethod comprising: monitoring a frequency band for interference when aperformance metric associated with transmission of the data from thesource device to the destination device is indicative of impairment ofthe transmission, the frequency band including a first communicationschannel and a second communications channel; identifying interferencewith the transmission of the data from the source device to thedestination device while monitoring the frequency band, the interferencecomprising communications on a second communications channel differentfrom the first communications channel; and after identifying theinterference, initiating operation of a third device to transmit data onthe second communications channel after determining a first signalstrength of the third device at the destination device is less than asecond signal strength associated with the communications, wherein theoperation of the third device is configured to decrease a utilizationratio associated with the communications on the second communicationschannel.
 2. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by aprocessing system, cause the processing system to perform the method ofclaim
 1. 3. The method of claim 1, at least one of the source device andthe destination device being communicatively coupled to the thirddevice, wherein initiating operation of the third device comprises theat least one of the source device and the destination device signalingthe third device to transmit the data on the second communicationschannel.
 4. A method of transmitting data from a source device to adestination device over a first communications channel, the methodcomprising: identifying interference with transmission of the data fromthe source device to the destination device, the interference comprisingcommunications on a second communications channel different from thefirst communications channel; identifying a third device from among aplurality of possible mitigating devices based on a signal strengthbetween the third device and the destination device; and initiatingoperation of the third device to transmit data on the secondcommunications channel after identifying the interference, wherein theoperation of the third device is configured to decrease a utilizationratio associated with the communications on the second communicationschannel.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising monitoring afrequency band for the interference when a performance metric associatedwith the transmission of the data is indicative of impairment of thetransmission, the frequency band including the first communicationschannel and the second communications channel, wherein identifying theinterference comprises identifying the communications on the secondcommunications channel while monitoring the frequency band.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein initiating the operation of the third devicecomprises initiating the operation of the third device based at least inpart on one or more interference metrics associated with thecommunications.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein initiating theoperation of the third device based at least in part on the one or moreinterference metrics comprises initiating the operation of the thirddevice in response to determining the utilization ratio associated withthe communications is greater than a threshold value.
 8. The method ofclaim 6, wherein initiating the operation of the third device based atleast in part on the one or more interference metrics comprisesinitiating the operation of the third device in response to determininga signal strength associated with the communications is greater than athreshold value.
 9. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying theinterference comprises the destination device determining a performancemetric associated with the transmission of the data is indicative ofimpairment of the transmission.
 10. The method of claim 4, whereinidentifying the interference comprises the source device determining aperformance metric associated with the transmission of the data isindicative of impairment of the transmission.
 11. The method of claim10, further comprising the source device instructing the destinationdevice to monitor a frequency band for the interference when theperformance metric associated with the transmission of the data isindicative of impairment of the transmission, wherein initiatingoperation of the third device comprises the source device instructingthe third device to perform the operation on the second communicationschannel within the frequency band when the destination device identifiesthe communications on the second communications channel while monitoringthe frequency band.
 12. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying thethird device comprises identifying the third device when the signalstrength is less than a second signal strength associated with theinterference at the destination device.
 13. A media system comprising: adestination device to receive first data from a source device via afirst communications channel; and an auxiliary device communicativelycoupled to at least one of the destination device or the source deviceto transmit second data over a second communications channel differentfrom the first communications channel after the at least one of thedestination device or the source device identifies interference with thedestination device receiving the first data, the interference comprisingcommunications on the second communications channel, the second databeing configured to decrease a utilization ratio associated with thecommunications on the second communications channel, wherein: thedestination device is configured to monitor a frequency band includingthe first communications channel when a performance metric associatedwith receiving the first data is indicative of the interference anddetect the communications on the second communications channel withinthe frequency band; and after determining a first signal strength of theauxiliary device at the destination device is less than a second signalstrength associated with the communications, the source device or thedestination device instructs the auxiliary device to transmit the seconddata after the destination device detects the communications on thesecond communications channel.
 14. The media system of claim 13,wherein: the first communications channel comprises a first wirelesscommunications channel; and the second communications channel comprisesa second wireless communications channel.
 15. The media system of claim14, wherein: the source device comprises a first set-top box; and thedestination device comprises a second set-top box.
 16. A methodcomprising: transmitting data from a source device to a destinationdevice via a first wireless communications channel; identifyinginterference with the transmitting of the data based at least in part onone or more performance metrics associated with the transmitting of thedata; detecting communications on a second wireless communicationschannel after identifying the interference, the second wirelesscommunications channel being different from the first wirelesscommunications channel; identifying a third device from among aplurality of possible mitigating devices based on a first signalstrength of the third device at the destination device being less than asecond signal strength associated with the communications at thedestination device; and initiating operation of the third device totransmit data on the second wireless communications channel afterdetecting the communications, the third device being communicativelycoupled to at least one of the source device and the destination device,wherein the operation of the third device on the second wirelesscommunications channel is configured to decrease a utilization ratioassociated with the communications on the second wireless communicationschannel.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining theutilization ratio associated with the communications on the secondwireless communications channel is greater than a threshold value priorto initiating the operation.